Bills lose huge again, fall to Chargers 54-24

Nathan Peterman throws five interceptions in his NFL debut

The Buffalo Bills came into Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers with two straight embarrassing losses to the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints. Prior to the game, the Bills made a switch at quarterback, making rookie Nathan Peterman the starter and benching Tyrod Taylor.

However, it was not the start that Peterman and the Bills had envisioned as he threw five interceptions in his debut, and the Bills get embarrassed for a third straight game, 54-24 at StubHub Arena.

It couldn't have been a worse start for the Bills as Peterman made a great throw to a covered Kelvin Benjamin for 20 yards, but Benjamin stayed down on the field holding his knee. He walked to the sidelines, but was carted to the locker room shortly after. He did not return to the field after suffering the injury.

On the next play, Peterman threw a pass to Patrick DiMarco that was tipped up into the air, intercepted by Korey Toomer, and returned for a Chargers touchdown. On the next drive, Peterman threw up a duck that was intercepted again by Casey Hayward.

The Bills answered back with two huge runs from LeSean McCoy. McCoy's first run went right up the middle to set the Bills up in Chargers territory, then on the next play he took a pitch to the outside for a 27-yard touchdown. However, the Chargers put together another drive to extend the lead to 10-7.

Before the end of the first quarter, Peterman put another the ball up for grabs while being hit, and it was intercepted by Tre Boston. It was Peterman's third interception of the quarter, but it wouldn't be his last.

Philip Rivers made the Bills pay off that interception, throwing a 21-yard strike to Keenan Allen to take a 17-7 lead.

On the first play of the Bills' next drive, Peterman threw another interception inside the Buffalo 20-yard line to Hayward again. It was Keenan Allen again as he scored his second touchdown of the day, to make the lead 24-7.

The Chargers continued to move the ball with ease on the Bills. Keenan Allen made several catches to keep drives moving, Rivers was on target, and Melvin Gordon found room to run in the ground game.

On the next drive after a 28-yard Nick Novak field goal to make the score 27-7, Gordon added seven more points to the scoreboard with a 10-yard touchdown run.

Peterman threw his fifth interception of the game with under a minute to go in the second quarter as he's picked off by Trevor Williams after over-throwing Deonte Thompson. Los Angeles got a couple first downs to get into field goal range, and Novak makes it a 37-7 lead at the half for the Chargers.

After the Chargers started the second half with a field goal, Tyrod Taylor was back in at quarterback to start the second half for the Bills. Taylor and McCoy led the Bills down the field to set up a 50-yard field goal from Stephen Hauschka. Hauschka's field goal made the score 40-10, but it also gave Hauschka the NFL record for the most consecutive 50-plus-yard field goals made.

On Buffalo's next drive, Taylor is sacked and stripped of the football by Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram. Ingram recovered his own forced fumble, and ran it back 39-yards for the touchdown to make it a 47-10 game in the third quarter.

The Bills finally got some movement with Taylor under center. He got the Bills' first passing touchdown of the game on a 12-yard pass to McCoy. It was McCoy's first receiving touchdown of the season.

The Chargers added to their big lead in the fourth quarter with a 21-yard touchdown run from Austin Ekeler. It is the most points scored for the Chargers in a game since 1981, when they put up 55 points against the Oakland Raiders.

The Bills did add another touchdown thanks to a two-yard touchdown run from Taylor, but that was all the Bills were able to muster in the final minutes of the game. They went three-and-out in their final drive, and the Chargers ended up closing things out in their 54-24 win.